Dani Franklin-Printy leads Waukee into the Class 5A girls’ state basketball semifinals

DES MOINES — Dani Franklin-Printy coaches in the same manner in which she played.

Quietly. Steadily.

“Jared is more of a yeller,” Franklin-Printy said of her assistant (and husband), Jared Printy. “I’m more even-keeled. That’s just how I am.”

Senior Sophia Hope can confirm.

“Jared loses his voice almost every game,” she said. “(Dani), she’s more quiet. They are yin and yang.

“I will say that (Dani) is the most motivated coach I’ve ever had.”

In their third year at Waukee, the Printys have the fourth-ranked Warriors in the Class 5A girls’ basketball state semifinals after a 46-44 win over No. 5 Ankeny Centennial on Monday at Wells Fargo Arena.

Dani graduated from Cedar Rapids Washington in 2014, Jared from Linn-Mar in 2016.

“We make a good combination,” Dani said. “We talk basketball all of the time, watch a lot of film together.”

Franklin-Printy, 28, played here once as a player; Washington reached the semifinals in her junior year. After that, she played at Valparaiso University.

She was a graduate assistant at Mercer College, then served two years as an assistant at her alma mater.

What brought the couple back to Iowa?

“Family was the main thing,” Franklin-Printy said. “We both have our degrees in education, and we wanted to come back here.”

It worked out when the Waukee district split into two high schools (Waukee and Northwest). Dani is a sixth-grade math teacher — “It gives me a chance to see who the young ballers are,” she said — while Jared teaches high school U.S. history.

The Warriors have compiled a 41-28 record in Franklin-Printy’s tenure. Monday, they overcame an early 10-0 deficit, led by as many as 10 points, then won despite going without a field goal in the fourth quarter.

Iowa’s best ever? Consider these Johnston Dragons

  Buy Photo

It was meant as reassurance. And it’s not arrogance if it’s true.

“I told the team, if they match the energy of any team out there, there aren’t may teams that can stay with them,” Johnston Coach Chad Jilek said.

West Des Moines Valley couldn’t.

The 5A top-rated Dragons improved to 24-0 with a 60-31 victory in the tournament’s opener Monday.

Johnston has blossomed into a near dynasty. The Dragons’ 10 consecutive state appearances is the longest active streak of any team in any class. They were 5A champions in 2020 and 2022, runners-up in 2021 and 2023.

In that decade-long span, their record is 217-29. And the bulk of that has been against elite competition in the Central Iowa Metro League.

Best team in Iowa history? If they win it, they’re in the discussion, along with the Ankeny teams of 2002-05 that rattled off four straight titles.

“Boy, I don’t know,” senior Aili Tanke said. “My sophomore year, we were undefeated too. The talent keeps getting better and better.”

Johnson’s talent pool runs deep.

Tanke has signed with Iowa State. Junior Amani Jenkins, whose transfer from Des Moines North “is the difference from us being a really good team to being a great team,” according to Jilek, is a Marquette commit. Senior Aaliyah Riley is bound for Northwest Missouri State.

Then there’s sophomore Jenica Lewis, owner of 30-some Division I offers.

“I’ll start to narrow it down this summer,” she said. “A couple of them showed up today. I look before each game, to know what they’re here for.”

Despite the wealth of talent, the pieces fit well. Nobody took more than eight shots Monday; Lewis was 6-of-8 and scored 18 points.

“You know if you pass it and they’re open, there’s a good chance they’re going to make it,” Tanke said.

The Dragons were 22 of 45 from the field.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com